Abrasive articles such as grinding wheels having an abrasive portion consisting of resin-bonded abrasive particles secured to a support member are known. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,389,117 discloses a cup-shaped grinding wheel consisting of an annular abrasive rim member of resin-bonded diamonds adhesively secured to the outermost peripheral edge of a cup-shaped support or backing member of a phenol-formaldehyde resin and an aluminum powder. As indicated in the aforementioned patent, it is necessary when using the cup-shaped grinding wheel to remove some of the backing material adjacent the annular abrasive rim member in order to provide grinding clearance for the abrasive rim element. Such an operation is called "wheel dressing". As further indicated in the aforementioned patent, wheel dressing is a difficult task, especially when the backing member is molded from a mixture of aluminum powder and phenol-formaldehyde resin (primarily because the aluminum of the backing member tends to smear over the surface of the backing member when contacted by the dressing tool). This problem was allegedly overcome in U.S. Pat. No. 3,389,117 by adding a specific alloying element to the backing member thereby to render the backing member readily dressable. In direct contrast to the aforementioned patent, the principal object of the present invention is to provide an abrasive article such as a cup-shaped grinding wheel which avoids or obviates the need for wheel dressing.